Wireless status indicator light

The present application claims the filing benefits of U.S. provisional applications, Ser. No. 62/342,385, filed May 27, 2016, and Ser. No. 62/330,386, filed May 2, 2016, which are both hereby incorporated by reference herein in their entireties.

The present invention is directed to status indicators, such as for providing visual and/or aural signals indicative of phone usage or a person's general availability.

Indicator lights have been interfaced with telephone systems and are used to provide a visual notification related to an individual telephone device of that telephone system. For example, a particular visual notification device paired with a particular telephone device on a telephone system may be used to provide visual notification to others that a user of the telephone device may be currently on a phone call, may be busy with a project and wishes to not be disturbed, or may wish to indicate that they are available. The telephone systems may include both hardware-based infrastructure and/or cloud-based infrastructure.

The present invention provides wireless connectivity between one or more of a portable computing device, a cellphone, smart phone, laptop, and any other computing device, and a status indicator system. Such wireless connectivity to a particular visual indicator allows for a connected portable device, laptop, or desktop computer to be used to provide clear indication of a user's status, to others, via the connected visual indicator system, and may further be used to provide the user with information regarding incoming calls or messages, active call status, and the like.

In one form of the present invention, a visual indicator system includes a visual indicator capable of visual indicating one or more status based upon a selected color displayed by the visual indicator, and a processor configured to select a status in response to receiving a condition report from a wirelessly connected device. The processor is further configured to indicate the selected status via the visual indicator. The processor commands the visual indicator to display at least one of a particular color, light intensity, and flashing cycle rate, based upon the selected status.

According to an aspect of the present invention, the visual indicator system includes a light fixture that outputs light in one of a plurality of colors. For example, the light fixture may output green, red, purple, and yellow colored lights. The light fixture may also output a varying light intensity, and a flashing light with a varying cycle rate.

According to another aspect of the present invention, the visual indicator system includes an auditory indicator that is able to output an audible signal to indicate when a call, text message, email, or voice mail has been received. Similar to the light fixture, the auditory indicator may also output a variety of audio tones and/or tunes. The auditory indicator may also output the audible signal with a varying volume level.

According to another aspect of the present invention, the visual indicator system may also define a status as one of busy, available, and away. The busy status may refer to an “on a call” condition, or a “do not disturb” condition.

According to another aspect of the present invention, the visual indicator system may also define a condition as one of “on a call,” “text message received,” “email message received,” “voicemail received,” “call received,” “user busy,” “do not disturb,” and “user away.”

According to another aspect of the present invention, the visual indicator system may also include a communications module that receives the condition report from the connected device. The communications module may include a wireless receiver. The wireless receiver may be one of a Bluetooth receiver, a near field communication (NFC) receiver, and a Wi-Fi receiver.

According to another aspect of the present invention, the visual indicator system may include a device that is one of a portable computing device, a computer, and a cellphone.

According to yet another aspect of the present invention, a method for indicating a status includes receiving condition reports, selecting a particular status, and indicating the selected status. The condition reports may be received from a connected device. The particular status may be selected in response to the condition report that was received. The selected status may be indicated via a visual indicator by commanding the visual indicator to go to a particular configuration based upon the selected status. The device is connected to the visual indicator via a wireless connection. The configuration indicates at least one of a particular light color, light intensity, and light flashing cycle rate.

These and other objects, advantages, purposes and features of this invention will become apparent upon review of the following specification in conjunction with the drawings.

FIG. 1 is a block diagram illustrating an exemplary visual indicator system interfacing wirelessly with an exemplary device in accordance with an embodiment of the present invention;

FIG. 2 is a flow diagram of the steps to a computer-implemented method for indicating a status with a visual indicator system in accordance with an embodiment of the present invention; and

FIGS. 3-5 are exemplary perspective views of a variety of power and data housing units configured for receiving a visual indicator system in accordance with an embodiment of the present invention.

Referring now to the drawings and the illustrative embodiments depicted therein, a visual indicator system is configured to provide visual indications of a user's status by wirelessly interfacing with a portable computing device associated with the user. As discussed herein, the visual indicator system provides wireless connectivity between a portable computing device, cell phone, laptop, or other computing device, and a status indicator system. Such wireless connectivity to a particular visual indicator allows for a wirelessly connected or paired device to be used to provide a signal indicative of the user's status to the visual indicator for display by the visual indicator, when the user's device enters the wireless range of the status indicator system. For example, when a connected device is being used on a call, the active call status may be indicated by the visual indicator. Similarly, the visual indicator may be used to indicate when an incoming call, voicemail, or text message has been received by the connected device. Such visual status cues may be used to notify the user of an incoming call, text message, or voice mail, as well as to provide notice to others when the user is busy, e.g., on a call, or does not wish to be disturbed.

As illustrated in FIG. 1 , a visual indicator system 100 comprises a visual indicator 102 that wirelessly connects to a user's device 104 when the user's device 104 has been placed within wireless range of the visual indicator 102 . When a user brings a particular device, for example a device 104 a, into wireless range of the visual indicator 102 , a wireless connection will be established with the visual indicator 102 via a wireless receiver of the visual indicator 102 . In FIG. 1 , the wireless receiver is indicated as an Input/Output (I/O) device 114 . In one embodiment, the I/O device 114 is a Bluetooth wireless receiver. In another embodiment, the I/O device 114 is a Wi-Fi wireless receiver. In yet another embodiment, the I/O device 114 may be a near field communication (NFC) receiver or other similar wireless receiver.

A condition report may be transmitted from the device 104 a to a control module 110 of the visual indicator 102 via a wireless communications link established between the device 104 a and the visual indicator 102 . Exemplary conditions may include:

1. Instant or text message received by the linked device. 2. Incoming phone call on the linked device. 3. When the linked device is on a call or similar action, e.g., video call. 4. When a user of the linked device wishes to indicate that they are “available,” that is, not on a call or similar activity. 5. When a user of the linked device wishes to indicate that they are “busy,” that is, on a call or similar activity. 6. When the user of the linked device wishes to indicate that they do not want to be disturbed.

Optionally, the available conditions include conditions that are selected based upon the device's current state. For example, when a device 104 is receiving a call, voicemail, or text message, or the user is already on a call with the device 104 , the condition report may indicate such. Additionally, the condition report from the device 104 may be user selectable. For example, if the user wishes to indicate they are “busy,” whether they are on a call or not, or that they do not want to be disturbed, the user may manually select such conditions.

Based upon the received condition report from the connected device 104 , a processor 112 of the control module 110 will select a status to be indicated by the visual indicator 102 . As illustrated in FIG. 1 , the status selected by the processor 112 may be used to configure a command to be received by either one or both of a light fixture 120 and an audio device 130 . Such a command may be used to cause the light fixture 120 to flash a particular color when an incoming call or text message has been received. Similarly, the light fixture 120 may glow a particular color based upon the selected status. For example, a green light may be used to indicate that the user is available to receive a call or is available for other activities. Similarly, a red or purple light may be used to indicate that the user is busy, e.g., on a call, or does not want to be disturbed, respectively. Lastly, a yellow light may be used when the user wishes to step away from the linked device 104 a. When the user steps away from the visual indicator 102 , and takes the linked device 104 a with them, once the linked device 104 a moves beyond the wireless range of the connection, the link will be broken and the visual indicator 102 will be returned to a ready state. Such a ready state may be indicated with a light-off configuration. The light fixture 120 may change color, light brightness or a flashing cycle rate depending on the selected status. For example, based upon the selected status, the processor 112 commands the light fixture 120 to display at least one of a particular light color, variable light intensity, and variable flashing cycle rate. Optionally, processor 112 and light fixture 120 may be configured to provide a visual indication of two or more statuses at a selected priority level, such as by primarily displaying a red light to indicate that the user is on an active call, and by briefly displaying purple light to indicate that the user does not wish to be disturbed even after the active call is complete. It is further envisioned that multiple colors or flashing patterns could be displayed at once, to provide more than one visual status indication at one time.

As also illustrated in FIG. 1 , an audio device 130 may also receive the command and consequently output an audio signal indicative of the selected status. For example, a particular audio signal may be output via a speaker of the audio device 130 when a call or message is received. Similar to the light fixture 120 , the audio device 130 may output a variety of audio tones and/or tunes. The audio device 130 may also output the audible signal with a variable volume level. In one embodiment, the audio output may be used to indicate to the user when incoming calls or messages have been received by the device 104 , when the user is away from the linked device 104 but within audio range of the linked device 104 .

As illustrated in FIG. 1 , when a second user with a device 104 b enters the wireless range of the visual indicator 102 —when the visual indicator 102 is in a ready state and able to wirelessly connect—the device 104 b will connect with the visual indicator 102 as discussed above. Once connected, the second user's status may be indicated with the visual indicator as discussed above. For example, when the visual indicator 102 has connected to a device 104 a of a first user, a second user with a connectable device 104 b will not be connected with the visual indicator 102 until the first user's device 104 a is no longer connected to the visual indicator 102 .

FIG. 2 illustrates an exemplary flow diagram of a computer implemented method for indicating a user's status via a wireless connection between a connected device 104 and a visual indicator 102 . In step 202 of FIG. 2 , a condition report is received from the connected device 104 . As discussed above, the connected device 104 is wirelessly connected to the visual indicator 102 via a Bluetooth, NFC, or Wi-Fi connection. In step 204 of FIG. 2 , a status is selected in response to the received condition report. As discussed herein, a particular status or alert may be selected based upon the received condition report which may indicate a current condition, e.g., incoming call or message, on a call, user indicates they are busy, available, or not to be disturbed. Lastly, in step 206 of FIG. 2 , the selected status is indicated via a visual indicator by commanding the visual indicator's light fixture 120 to go to a particular configuration based upon the selected status. For example, a particular configuration may include a particular light color to display, a particular variable light brightness, or variable flashing light cycle rate. Additionally, as also discussed herein, in addition, the command may be used to cause an audio device 130 to output a particular audio signal.

As illustrated in FIGS. 3-5 the visual indicator system 100 may be implemented in any of the following exemplary configurations. FIG. 3 illustrates that a visual indicator system 100 may be implemented as an electrical device assembly inserted into a power and data housing 300 . Such a power and data housing 300 is discussed in detail in commonly owned U.S. Pat. No. 8,480,429 issued to Norman R. Byrne, entitled “Power Data Housing,” the disclosure of which is hereby incorporated herein by reference. Additional embodiments for an exemplary power and data housing are disclosed and discussed in detail in commonly owned U.S. Pat. No. 9,312,673 issued to Norman R. Byrne, entitled “Low Voltage Power Receptacle,” the disclosure of which is hereby incorporated herein by reference. Further embodiments and additional details may be found in commonly assigned U.S. patent application Publication No. 2012/0127637, issued to Norman R. Byrne et al., entitled “Receptacle Timer,” the disclosure of which is hereby incorporated herein by reference. It will be appreciated that exemplary visual indicator system embodiments may be configured for and inserted into other housing embodiments. Such additional mounting embodiments are discussed in detail in the following commonly owned patents: U.S. Pat. No. 8,444,432, issued to Norman R. Byrne, entitled “Power and Data Adapter Assembly,” U.S. Pat. No. 8,721,124, issued to Norman R. Byrne, entitled “Retractable Light Assembly,” U.S. Pat. No. 8,736,106, issued to Norman R. Byrne, entitled “International Outlet System,” and U.S. Pat. No. 9,220,342, issued to Norman R. Byrne, entitled “Table Coupling System With Power And Data.” Additional mounting embodiments as also discussed in detail in commonly owned U.S. patent application Ser. No. 15/062,944, by Norman R. Byrne, entitled “Portable Electrical Power Unit,” Which corresponds to U.S. patent application Publication No. 2016/0268825.

As illustrated in FIG. 4 , and discussed in U.S. Pat. No. 9,312,673, a visual indicator system 100 may be implemented as an electrical device assembly inserted into a variety of configurations. For example, a visual indicator system 100 may be configured for and inserted into power and data housing unit 400 that has been configured with an edge clamp 402 for attaching to the edge of a table or desk surface. A visual indicator system 100 may be configured for and inserted into a power and data housing unit 440 that is configured to be inserted into a horizontal tabletop surface. Lastly, a visual indicator system 100 may be configured for and inserted into a power and data housing unit 460 that is configured as a monument or monument-grommet mount for mounting in a horizontal surface of a work surface and/or tabletop.

As illustrated in FIG. 5 , an exemplary power and data housing unit 500 may be configured to receive an electrical device assembly, which may include an exemplary visual indicator system 100 . FIG. 5 illustrates the use of the power and data housing unit 500 and a channel with a visual indicator system 100 . For purposes of releasably securing the electrical device assembly within a channel of the power and data housing unit 500 , the visual indicator system 100 may include additional appropriate components to be received within and captured by upper and lower channels, such that the visual indicator system 100 is slidably inserted into the channel. The above power and data housing unit 500 and channel are discussed in detail in the above-referenced U.S. Pat. No. 8,480,429.

Thus, the visual indicator system provides users and others with a quick visual indication of a given user's status or availability based on signals that are wirelessly received from a portable electronic device, such as a mobile phone or tablet computer, that is associated with that user. A communications module may be located at a work area that is designated for the user, for at least a limited period of time, and is able to wirelessly receive a condition report from a wirelessly connected device associated with that user. A processor selects a status in response to the condition report received by the communications module. The visual indicator provides a status indication, such as “busy,” “available,” and “on an active call,” based upon a selected visual configuration of the visual indicator.

Changes and modifications in the specifically described embodiments can be carried out without departing from the principles of the present invention which is intended to be limited only by the scope of the appended claims, as interpreted according to the principles of patent law including the doctrine of equivalents.